Little Falls transcript., 1887-05-13

regard. AIC0r NlctOrla became queen,
Albert came to England. The old
king OF the Belgians had sounded her
and found her willing; he had commu-
nicated his discovery to Albert, who
was ardent. But the young lady was
clear-headed and practical. eve are
hoth too young to think ofmarrying.
L. wrote. albert is imperfectly
quainted with English, and is only
just out of college. Let us wait three
or four years. And meanwhile she
declined to correspond with him. Al
bert was as calculating as she. ''If,"
he wrote, ''after waiting three years. !
should find that the queen no longer
desired the marriage. it would ruin all
the prospects of my future life. Ii !
am to wait, I must have some certain
assurances to 60 upon" Nearly thir-
ty years later, in her life of Prince AL
bert, the queen says: "The queen
cannot think without Indignation
against herself of her wish to keep the
prince waiting three or four years"
Two years after the accession rince
Albert came to England "with tne in
tention OF telling her that if she could
not then make up her mind he could
no longer wait for a decision" What
this little German petty Prince would
have done If the queen had declined to
make up her mind does not appear.
But great pressure was brought to
bear upon her majesty. If she had
died childless the duke OF Cumberland,
wretch stained with every crime and
monstrously unpopular, would have
succeeded. We may be sure that Lord
Melbourne advised her that delay was
dangerous. He said: "You will be
much more comfortable; a woman can
not stand alone" On October 18th
the queen sent a message to Albert
that she desired to see him in her
room. He thus describes the scene in
a letter to his grandmother: 1.-THE
queen sent for me alone to
her room and declared to me
in genuine outburst OF love and af-
fection that I had gained her whole
heart and would make her intensely
happy If / would make her the sacri-
flee Of sharing my life with her. The
joyous openness OF manner in which
she told me this quite enchanted me
and l was carried away by It," No
doubt.
Next month she summoned her pri-
Wy council and informed them of her
intention to ally herself in marriage
with Prince Albert. She read her dec
laration, and felt," says she. "that
my hands shook, but I did not make
one single mistake" When parliament
met in January, 1910, she repeated
f0 u
composure, and asked for a grant OF
$3.50, 900 a year for the prince. Par
lament gave him $15O,OOO.
The marriage was a happy one from
the start to the end. Husband and
wife were wrapped up in each other
and in their children. For the first
year or two Prince Albert was not
present at the meetings between the
queen and her minister's; but after
wards he was always expected at the
council tables. But their happiest
times were when they were playing to-
gether-both were accomplished mu-
slclans; or etching portraits OF their
children; or singing under the leader
ship OF Lablache. Albert laid down
for himself two rules, in order to 81
lence scandal, which had been so rife
under previous reigns, and likewise to
obviate jealousy on the part OF his
wife-he would pay no visits and would
60 nowhere unattended by an eauerry.
This was his rule through life, and it
accomplished his object. No breath
OF scandal ever tarnished his reputa-
tiOn.
Twenty years ago the queen pub
lished volume containing her diary
during her journey to Scotland, and
fifteen years later this was followed
by q second volume on the same sub
ject. coming down to 1882. The
books are interesting because they
constitute a forty years diary written
by a queen regnant. The thoughts
are trivial, the observations trite, the
style uncultured; they reflect the
mind OF a commonplace, honest. kind
ly woman, who might have been as
much at home as the wife of a. retail
grocer as the queen OF England and
empress of India. Thus she tells us:
81 ate some oatmeal porridge for
breakfast and found it very nice;" II
saw a woman in the river with her
dress tucked up almost to her knees,
washing potatoes;" Dundee is very
large place; the situation OF the town
is very fine, but the town itself is not
so;" "Albert observed that it was al
ways said that parents lived their
lives over again in their children,
which is a very pleasant feeling"
with hundreds OF equally striking
and profound remarks. Still it is
pleasant to read a queens remark
that ''during the voyage was always
able to give Vicky (the present crown
princess Of Germany her lessons,"
and II always try, when possible, to
hear the children say their prayers my
SELF" On the occasion ofthe death of
the duke OF wellington the queen rises
above her usual level in few noble
sentences expressing her loss. And
the account of the betrothal of the
Princess Victoria is so neat that we
must quote it: "Pr ince Frederick
William of Prussia had already spo-
ken to us of his wishes with regard to
our dear Victoria, but We were uncer-
tain, on account Of her extreme youth,
whether he should speak to her him
self, or wait till he came back again.
However, we.felt it better he should do
50; and during our ride this afternoon,
he picked g piece of white heather
the emblem Of good luck which he gave
to her, and this enabled him to wake
an allusion to his hopes and wishes
as they rode down the glen, which led
to the happy conclusion" There isn't
much difference, when it comes to
wooing, between princes and cob oilers.
The diary, read in connection with
other publications BY the queen, shows
US two sides Of her character. One is
the good, kindly woman going around